Mel Brooks Honored With AFI Life Achievement Award

Martin Scorsese presented the award to the
'Young Frankenstein' director, who said,
'Movies rescued my soul,' at the reception on
Thursday, June 6.
King of comedy Mel
Brooks was
awarded with the
Life Achievement
Award by American
Film Institute (AFI)
on June 6 at the
Dolby Theater in
Los Angeles.
Former AFI
recipient Martin
Scorsese was
tapped to present
the award to the
86-year-old
director, who is
best known as a
creator of broad film farces and comic
parodies. Among those in attendance were
Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman .
"Movies rescued my soul. No matter what was
bad or wrong, it could be wiped out on
Saturday morning," said Brooks. Scorsese also
had his say of his fellow filmmaker, saying,
"Mel has made his own tradition of greatness,
and it's that tradition - drawing from the past,
honoring it, toying with it, vamping on it,
extending it to places wise men, very funny
men previously feared to go - that's what we're
celebrating here and honoring tonight."
Actor Martin Short opened the star-studded
event by singing songs from Brooks' films,
including "I Want to Be a Producer" and
"Springtime for Hitler" from "The Producers".
" The word genius is used a lot in Hollywood,
so I might as well call Mel one," Short said.
Brooks' "2000 Year Old Man" partner Carl
Reiner also paid tribute to his friend, saying
that Brooks was "one of the funniest people in
the world - Sid Caesar, me and Mel Brooks."
Brooks then approached him and gave him a
kiss on the cheek.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel had his own way to
deliver his tribute to Brooks. "We are going to
miss you so much, Mel. You were one of the
greats. Rest in peace, my friend," he joked, to
which Brooks responded, "I'm not gonna die."
TNT will air the tribute on Saturday, June 15,
at 9 P.M.